TeaChat

needaTEAcher wrote: ...
He has what he claims to be a 1999 Menghai 7542 going for much lower than it should be. I asked why, and he said it is because the local economy can't support expensive tea like Kuala Lumpur, so even though it is old they haven't raised the price much. He says it has been stored in Malaysia the whole time.
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Normally it seems people don't post prices, but I will. I have seen this tea in Korea for $300-$700 in different stores, and in Kuala Lumpur for about 2,000 MYR ($630ish), but here it is selling for 180 MYR, which is roughly $55. Scam? Mistake? Deal of the year? Bad storage leading to lower price?

The right phrase should be:
Local Economy can't support 'fake' expensive tea like Kuala Lumpur

If it is real 1999 Menghai 7542 @ RM180... It will be sold out instantly without you having chance

Generally, if the deal is too good to be true... then you have to be careful. Not to mention you are a foreigner here, have to be even more careful.

Just took it today for you from our regular shop. Similar Pu?





How many cartons you want

Looks quite tasty...!

Also looks like this sold as 98 red ribbon from another Malaysian outlet.
http://skip4tea.com/中茶省公司-紅絲帶-ZhongCha- ... doit=order
For the same price I really doubt it's a 7542

needaTEAcher wrote:It tastes like 7542. To me, that recipe has a distinct potato flavor that is really bitter when younger but yields to a strong sweetness.

Red flag #1 . To me this is a sign that the tea is red, treated, or falsely aged. Just a guess, really tough to know off of descriptions and pics alone, the proof is in the tea.

needaTEAcher wrote:This tea has it, but the sweetness is a bit hollow, and the aftertaste weaker. And, ultimately, much less complex than I might imagine, but still very, very good.

My biggest concern is how quickly it bottomed out (5 infusions with enough leaves:water for at least .

Red flag #2 . Regardless of the reason (fake tea? bad storage?) do you really want a tea that is hollow after 5 steepings? I wouldn't.

Red flag #3 is the price. I don't think that price makes a ton of sense, even if you were in the mainland. A properly stored cake would fetch more than that.

I realize my comments are kind of late, just thought i would weigh in.

needaTEAcher wrote:It tastes like 7542. To me, that recipe has a distinct potato flavor that is really bitter when younger but yields to a strong sweetness.

Red flag #1 . To me this is a sign that the tea is red, treated, or falsely aged. Just a guess, really tough to know off of descriptions and pics alone, the proof is in the tea.

needaTEAcher wrote:This tea has it, but the sweetness is a bit hollow, and the aftertaste weaker. And, ultimately, much less complex than I might imagine, but still very, very good.

My biggest concern is how quickly it bottomed out (5 infusions with enough leaves:water for at least .

Red flag #2 . Regardless of the reason (fake tea? bad storage?) do you really want a tea that is hollow after 5 steepings? I wouldn't.

Red flag #3 is the price. I don't think that price makes a ton of sense, even if you were in the mainland. A properly stored cake would fetch more than that.

I realize my comments are kind of late, just thought i would weigh in.

Thanks everyone for your help. One of you offered to split it with me to lessen the cost and share the lesson, so I bought it to learn!

When I finally taste it next to the real thing I will document and post it to close this thread down. I love this community, and how quickly everyone came to the rescue!

needaTEAcher wrote:Thanks everyone for your help. One of you offered to split it with me to lessen the cost and share the lesson, so I bought it to learn!

When I finally taste it next to the real thing I will document and post it to close this thread down. I love this community, and how quickly everyone came to the rescue!

Look forward to your comparison! If you split it up, that lesson isn't too costly. $25 or so? There are far worse lessons in life (financially speaking)

Definitely had costlier lessons!

Well, after two sessions with experts in Seoul, I am ready to post my findings.

1st, I took it to a high-level expert (my grandmaster, if you will). He didn't have much time, and his focus was elsewhere, so we must take his opinion with a grain of salt! He examined the disk, consulted a book he had that showed what the inner-certificate and ribbon should look like (same as posted above by auhckw, btw), and then tasted it. His opinion is that it is legitimate 1999 7542, but 1-priced at the market value from 2003 or 2004 (which is in line with the story that the vendor offered), and 2-that it is poorly stored, explaining the hollow-taste and overly-brittle leaves.

2nd opinion was from my teacher (also a student of the aforementioned grandmaster), who spent a little more time with it. After a lot of thought, discussion, smelling, and tasting, he announced that it tastes like it is just about the right age, though badly stored, but that he thinks it tastes more like 8582 than 7542. He then amended his opinion to be that it tastes somewhere between 7542 and 8582, but closer to 8582. His opinion was that it might be from Meng Hai Factory, and could very well be from 1999, but that he doesn't think it is 7542, and he also agrees that the storage is bad.

Overall, very informative experience! Any questions?

PS-Both felt that 150myr (US$55ish) was a very good price for the disk, despite the bad storage.

needaTEAcher wrote:Overall, very informative experience! Any questions?

That's great, thanks for sharing the results of this experiment! Only one question here.... any pictures of the tastings??

Oh, and one other question, I suppose... any idea exactly how the vendor stored the cake? In other words, any one particular thing that made it "poorly" stored?

Pictures are in existence...whenever I can find some time with the computer and the laptop in the same room I'll post.

As per the storage, I have no info at all. My guess is too humid for too long, followed by a long period in an AC building that killed the fermentation and dried it out too much. Too wet followed by too dry! Just my guess though.

Photos!

And the brew: